


Saving the World

by Aaronna



Series: Soldier of Healing [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (duh), Aang Is an Idiot, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Androgynous!Zuko, Episode: s01e13 The Blue Spirit rewrite, Gen, Herbalist Zuko (Avatar), Improvised frog storage, Inspired by MuffinLance's Tumblr page, Katara might have a crush, No beta: we die like men, Other, Sexually Confused Sokka, Spirit is a curious kitten, Spirit is just as dramatic as Zuko had been, Spirit is just saving Aang from his own stupidity, Tea, Zhao is a jerk, on Spirit's hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26477983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronna/pseuds/Aaronna
Summary: One Idiot at a TimeHerbalist!Zuko AU - Episode: Blue Spirit rewrite.
Relationships: Katara/Spirit's Hair, Onesided Zukka hinted, Spirit & The Gaang (Avatar)
Series: Soldier of Healing [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910278
Comments: 46
Kudos: 769





	Saving the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



> Sorry this took so long! I have rewritten and rewritten Aang's POV and I still hate it.

Three years tutoring under the Herbalist of Taku (not that anyone really called the area that anymore) and the healing spirit Miyuki had Spirit tending to those who couldn't come to the greenhouse, collecting firewood, herbs, and supplies. After that rainstorm, he knew it was the perfect autumn day to be collecting fungi. He had been at it for hours when he saw the large creature fly over.

Having never lost his curiosity, unlike his anger, Spirit wasted no time in tracking down the beast. He wasn't surprised to end up in the ruins, but seeing the animal and who was with it almost caused him to lose his balance on the damp stone. He never thought he would meet someone from the Air Nomads, but those colors, the arrow tattoos, and the flying meant the people weren't as extinct as he had been taught growing up. 

He was frozen there, hidden in the crumbling stone, relieved that his ancestors had failed their extermination of an entire culture, until he saw the sick watertribe siblings. His awe of seeing an Airbender was put on hold as he noted the symptoms of the feverish pair. If those two had never left the poles before, that storm could have caused them to catch any number of illnesses. He needed to get down there to help before the nomad child got himself caught by the Yuyan out in the forest.

He bound through the ruins until he reached the path and was checking the contents of his bag when something came whizzing towards him. Out of instinct, he moved to the side, which was where the speeding form of the airbender also decided to go, causing them to crash into each other. Spirit got to his feet quickly, but not as quickly as the kid who was up and chattering apologies even faster.

Thankfully, or maybe not, a cough interrupted the boy, which gave Spirit the opening he needed to introduce himself. That was when he found out he was speaking with the Avatar. He was extra thankful, at that moment, that he had stopped the airbender from charging right into the range of the Yuyan. He shuddered to think about what the child Avatar would have done if he hadn't been there to stop him.

'(•V•)'

Aang had been emotionally exhausted after the fisherman had brought up him running away, explaining his past to Katara, rescuing Sokka and the fisherman, and almost being caught by Zhao, so he was trying not to worry too much about Sokka's fever and the fact Katara was getting sick too. Of course he was failing miserably. He had made up his mind to search for the Herbalist in the ruins of Taku, but he ended up crashing right into her assistant!

They called themselves Spirit, but compared to some of the names he heard orphans make for themselves (Smellerbee, The Duke, Pipsqueak come to mind ), it wasn't that bad. It kinda fit with the way they seemed to walk silently without trying. Their pale skin, dark hair, and yellow eyes made them seem more like a story character than a real person, especially with the burn.

What was weird was how Spirit seemed to know when he was about to ask something or run off to go grab something, because they would turn and give him a look he hadn't seen since the librarian in the Southern Airtemple passed away. When Katara asked for water, holding out the empty waterskin, he was all for filling it to make himself useful, but Spirit froze him with a glance and pulled a full skin from their satchel. Instead of giving it to Katara, they started a fire and poured the water into a pot they had in their bag.

Several herbs and other things were ground up and added to the teapot. Two cups appeared as steam started to rise from the spout. He was handed one as Spirit gestured to where Sokka was laughing at jokes Momo wasn't really telling while they coaxed Katara into sipping hers.

It took some effort, but Sokka drank the whole cup and seemed more lucid, well at least he wasn't thinking he was an earthbender anymore. Both watertribe siblings seemed a little better after the second cup, which was when they realized Spirit was in the camp. Only Katara thought to ask who they were, Sokka was just glad his friend made a friend. 

Spirit told them he was a healer who lived in the area. They told them their fever seemed to be a simple case of dampened fever, but since they had never been around it before, the storm let them catch it despite it being a childhood illness. The remedy was easy to get, but a bit unpleasant. Sucking on a frozen frog from the local swamp.

Aang volunteered to go get the frogs, but Spirit raised an eyebrow at him, so the Avatar sat down quickly instead of racing off like he usually would. Katara and Sokka gaped at the act, but Sokka looked gleeful about it. That was when they found out about the stronghold and its legendary archers who patrolled the forest.

With the others sick, Aang felt it was his job to find the frozen swamp frogs, but he was too obvious in his orange and yellow gi and bright blue airbending tattoos. Spirit sighed as if they had already explained this several times and got up. They gave instructions to stay in the ruins and for the siblings to drink a lot of water before they vanished from sight.

For just a moment, Aang, the Avatar and the Bridge Between Worlds, wasn't sure he hadn't just spent an hour with an actual, genuine, spirit. Just for a moment. He definitely wasn't still distracted by the thought when Spirit returned. Nope!

'(•V•)'

Katara would like to say she hadn't been that sick, but seeing as she had been in camp with a Fire Nation healer who helped her drink a soothing, warming tea and she hadn't realized it wasn't Aang, she was clearly sick. Now that same Fire Nation healer had stopped Aang from running off on his own with only a look and then left to get them medicine frogs because there were Fire Nation soldiers and archers in the area. It didn't cross her mind that the Fire Nation healer would report where they were to the soldiers until they were long gone. She wanted to tell Aang that they were fine, that they should leave now that they knew the remedy for their illness and get the frogs from somewhere else, but she was Not fine and Sokka was Worse.

Despite how much water they drank, Katara could feel their fevers rising again. Sokka was talking about a fight between Appa and Momo, but they weren't fighting, at least not that she could hear, so he was probably hallucinating. She knew she was losing focus on everything around her but Aang, who she was watching like a hawk in case someone tried to take him. She was still staring at him around sunset when he jumped up to help the Fire Nation healer from earlier. 

Their green edged white robe was wet and muddy as well as littered with holes, their hair was now in a massive, messy bun held in place with twigs and sticks, and their unscarred eye was puffy and bruised. As Aang asked a thousand questions way too quickly for anyone to answer, a pale, muddy and bloody hand reached into the black mass of hair and pulled out two ice frogs. Katara sucked on it as instructed as she watched the Fire Nation boy pull off his soaked robe and huddle buy the fire in damp pants.

By the time the frog thawed and began moving in her mouth, the boy had another pot of tea going and steam seemed to be rising from his body. She may have shrieked as she spat out the frog, but in her fevered mind, she hadn't connected frozen frogs with living frogs, not that sucking on a dead frog would have been more pleasant, but at least the tea helped wash the feeling away at least. Their caregiver seemed sympathetic to their distaste, but Appa and Aang seemed to think it was hilarious, though they might have been laughing at how Momo was chasing the frogs around. That was when she really looked at the boy healer.

He was tall,but he didn't look like he was finished growing. He was muscular, but in a lithe, wiry sort of way. He was pale, but not as much as a lot of Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation people were, but the angry red burn across his eye and ear made him seem paler than he was by comparison. His eyes were more yellow than Fire Nation amber, but it was clear at least some of his ancestry was fire. The thing that really got Katara was his hair.

It was long and not in the "for a boy" kind of way, but actually long. She couldn't really tell from the way he currently had it up in a bun that looked a lot like a nest with the sticks holding it all in place, but if she had to guess, she would say it would reach past his waist. It was thick too, but each strand seemed to be silky and fine. It has to be a pain to maintain. 

She wore her hair like she did because it was practical for going out hunting or flying around the world on the back of a bison. It also made it easier to take care of. It didn't have to be washed very often and it didn't get all tangled. He didn't seem to have the same issues she did if he was winding it up with kindling. She wanted to touch his hair, but that wasn't something you did with a shirtless boy a few years older than you, especially when you don't even know his name.

As if he read her mind, he introduced himself as Spirit, ward and apprentice to the local herbalist. As odd as the name was, it really fit him. It reminded her of the whole Jet incident, but without making her feel like history was repeating. Spirit wasn't trying to win them over. He wasn't flirting, trying to get them to join his cause, he wasn't even asking for help of any kind. It was nice.

It stayed like that until it grew dark. Spirit cooked them dinner, made them some tea to ward off the cold and prevent them from getting mouth sores or warts from sucking on wild frogs, and said his goodbyes. He suggested they leave the area before dawn, avoiding the Pohuai Stronghold, and disappeared into the shadows with a grin.

That was when she realized his name fit him even better than she thought it had. It left a smile on her face and a feeling of peace in her heart. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder how Spirit would look in watertribe blue.

'(•V•)'

Prior to having a mouthful of frog, Sokka's only memories of Spirit were of a pretty girl around his age with Kyoshi makeup on, only the red was a handprint around one eye instead of over both eyes. He had been so happy to see her mothering Aang, but then she was gone. When she came back, she was a guy who had put an icy frog in his mouth. Sokka wasn't sure how to feel now, his body was confused from the fever and whatever had gone on with Spirit gender swapping.

He was thankful the guy went out of his way to help them, but he really wanted the story behind the blackeye and the twiggy hairdo. The guy had gotten into a fight with the archers he told them about earlier if the holes in his robe were to be believed. He was pretty sure Spirit hadn't turned them into the Fire Nation troops, but there was still a chance. 

That chance decreased in likelihood as the sun completely disappeared and the guy made them a tasty dinner that he knew would lead to Katara trying to make him help with the chores. He almost wished soldiers would show up so he could use it as an excuse to never help, but instead they got tea to keep him from having blisters in his mouth from those slimy hoppers that had been clearing up his fever. Sokka lost the last of his pessimism about Spirit when the guy told them how to avoid getting caught as he used the shadows to make a drastic exit.

Sadly, that didn't help his body stop being confused. Exactly the opposite. It was all for it while Sokka's mind tried to explain it all away. He really wanted to see Spirit in Kyoshi warrior garb, that was all. The fans would match his eyes. Wait. 

**_Spirit was Fire Nation?!_ **

'(•V•)'

It had been a long day. Collecting fungi and herbs, meeting the last living airbender, helping the watertribe siblings, crossing the forest to gather frogs from their swampy hibernation, getting shot at be the Yuyan like they didn't know him, getting brought in to the Pohuai Stronghold, meeting Admiral Zhao…

That man gave Spirit the creeps. He was so arrogant and demanding that it brought back forgotten memories of his own father and how he acted prior to grandfather's death. Those memories were why he tried to act demure and shy, which led to getting backhanded. Thankfully, the commander stepped in to verify Spirit's name was just that and not the healer sassing him. His bag was searched and then confiscated for reasons only Zhao knew. Then came the slurs about war children.

The Admiral had it in his head that Spirit was a Fire Nation halfbreed who was feeding intel the Earth Kingdom. Spirit could take insults about himself, he encouraged those about his father, but no one was allowed to call his mother names like those. The blackeye was worth the disgusted recoil from Zhao when the steaming spitwad hit him right in the eye. That was when the commander put his foot down and got Spirit out of there.

He was released just outside of the fortress gate and he then had to trek back to the swamp and now he didn't have a bag to carry them in. His body temperature was too high to carry them in his pockets, they would thaw before he got halfway to the ruins. That was how his long, clean hair became an icebox for frozen frogs.

It was nearly sunset when he returned to the Avatar's camp, bruised and covered in ice cold mud. He didn't waste time trying to understand the non-stop flow of words from the airbender, he had patients to tend to. He retrieved the frozen amphibians from his locks and gave them to the ill pair before he pulled off his probably ruined robe and moved to the fire to warm himself up so he didn't get sick too.

Once they seemed to be on the mend, Spirit made sure they were fed and then dosed them with a blend of tea that should stave off any issues the frogs might have caused them. It wasn't like they had any immunity to the common health issues outside of the poles, so he wasn't taking chances, especially not with the boy since he had been sick enough to be seeing things.it was better safe than sorry.

He gave them his opinion on what they should do next and then backed away into the shadows. He stuck around to see what they would do, only for the boy to panic a few moments later because he realized he had been healed by someone from the Fire Nation, which it seemed was the reason their mother was dead and their father off fighting in the war. Spirit wished he could help, but he couldn't. Not yet.

He was saving the world, one idiot at a time. 


End file.
